Rugby league great Phil Gould has revealed he was forced to turn down an offer to play 18 holes with golf icon Tiger Woods.
Gould, who said he “needed something competitive to do” following his playing days, spoke about how he developed a passion for playing golf.
And he was offered an opportunity any sport lover would take up in a heartbeat when a chance to play with Woods appeared, but one Gould had to decline.
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Prior to that offer landing on Gould’s lap, the now-Bulldogs general manager of football was busy recruiting for the league’s new commission.
Well-known Australian business executive Gary Pemberton, who joined the Australian Rugby League Commission in 2012, a role in which he held for nearly two years before retiring, was the man Gould was busy recruiting.
“Back when we were campaigning to have a new commission formed [in 2011] – we wanted the commission formed for a couple of reasons: one was to remove media ownership from the game, which was bad for the game,” he told Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles With Gus.
“Two, to have one governing body in the country and to get rid of the proliferation of leagues and governing bodies we had in the country, we still have those at the moment, but at least now they’re controlled through funding.
“We were looking for people to go on the commission… there was one that we really wanted. A bloke called Gary Pemberton who used to run Qantas, Sky Racing. He was one that we really wanted.
“But they were taking so long to agree to this commission and to agree to the change in the constitution to make the commission possible… Gary had decided it’s taking too long. He decided he would just retire.
“He was living on the Gold Coast… I had arranged to go up and meet with Gary Pemberton just to convince him to stay on track and that we desperately needed him for the commission. I had to go up there and convince him to stay solid and stick with it.”
Meanwhile, Woods, now a winner of 15 majors, was in Australia for the 2011 Presidents Cup at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
“As luck would have it, that night I got a phone call from James Packer, who said ‘come to Melbourne tomorrow’,” Gould explained.
“He said, ‘we’ve got Tiger Woods running a clinic for some Crown members, we’re going to play 18 holes with him in the morning’.
“I told him I can’t come… I said I had to go to the Gold Coast. He said, ‘don’t do that. Come down to Melbourne and play with Tiger Woods’.
“I told him I can’t and that I had made a commitment and had to go. He told me I was mad.
“He offered to send his jet up to pick me up at two o’clock in the morning… Tiger at that moment was during his period where he was sort of on the outer.”
Having snubbed Packer’s offer to play with Woods, Gould revealed he made it clear to Pemberton what he had gone through before landing in Queensland.
“As it turned out, I got up to the Gold Coast and we’re having dinner… he’s sitting there saying it’s taking too long and that he doesn’t know how good it’s going to be… it got to the point where it wasn’t going that well,” he added.
“I said, ‘listen Gary, I’ve given up a game of golf with Tiger Woods today. I’ve come all the way to see you’.
“And he went, ‘oh well, I better go on the commission then’.
“Funny story isn’t it.”
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